Insomniacs
by LameDeer
Summary: That was how he got insomnia a month ago. It wasn't because of seeing hundreds of soldiers get violently crushed and eaten by titans. Hell no. This was all his Eren's doing. He knew this was how he was going to start "not being able to function".
1. Can't Sleep?

Disclaimer: Shingeki no Kyojin and its characters do not belong to me. I simply write for the pleasure and freedom of doing so.

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><p>Tired, hazy gray eyes fluttered open for the umpteenth time that night. <em>Fucking sounds<em>, Levi thought, but he knew that there wasn't any sound keeping him awake.

The air blew through the window, making the raven-haired man shift to the side to avoid his face being hit by the draft. Levi was not uncomfortable, nor was he sweating or freezing. He was not itchy from the bed sheet and his pajamas. He also wasn't hungry, or thirsty (but how could he be considering he always leaves a glass of water on his side table). He wasn't sick, or sneezing, or having the usual headache he'd get from training brats. He didn't need to take a piss, or a shit. He didn't need anything at the moment.

So then why couldn't he sleep?

The corporal could already feel his eyelids drooping, but sleep still evaded him. No matter how tired his body was, or how drained his mind felt, nothing could put the poor raven-haired man to a peaceful rest. Closing his eyes close, Levi could feel the uneasy silence clouding his senses. _That fucking Four-eyes_, his mind raised to Hange's face telling him that he would continue to suffer from insomnia if he didn't stay with his mate.

His mate

Not just _Any _mate, but _His_. The one he was quote and quote "soulbound" to. Ugh. Initially, he had refused to believe that there was a mate made for him. Levi always sought to reason out that his mate had probably died, or is dying, or would hate him if he ever met him.

But that wasn't the case anymore, because the corporal _had _found his mate.

Levi's eyes quickly opened, stopping his train of thought. He wouldn't go to sleep if he thought about it all night. Pushing away all the ideas in his head about his mate, Levi tried to go to sleep.

_Tried._

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><p>His eyes opened a few hours after, finally, after the raven-haired man stopped them from drooping again. <em>Thank fuck it's morning, <em>internally speaking to himself as he noted the first rays of sunlight hit the floor. His room remained the same since he had gone to bed. The small desk unmoved, and the water in his glass did not get any less. It was only his bed, showing evidence that the man who lay in it was restless and unable to sleep. He fixed his bed, and quickly rid, what he thought was, the only evidence of his condition.

How wrong Levi was.

As soon as he stepped into the bathroom, his reflection came into view. A raven-haired man with a bedhead, eyebags the size and color of black holes, a layer of stubble growing on his chin and jaw, and a still muscular but overworked body. _Jesus he looked like shit. _**This **was all evidence that he needed a mate. Still, the stubborn corporal refused to give in.

Fixing himself, he let his tired body go through the motions while his mind wandered to his possibly-but-highly-unlikely-_"but Hange said he was his"_- mate.

How does one even begin to describe Eren Jaeger.

A taller-than-Levi 18 year old emotional boy who saw his mother get eaten by a titan in Shingashina when Wall Maria fell, been obsessed with killing all the titans since that time, had a dad that bailed out on him and his adopted sister (his adopted sister had quite a story too), a key given to him by his dad to open the basement, a boy who can turn into a titan whenever he inflicted self-harm by biting his hand? Jaeger was pretty much a damn handful.

The attractiveness of Eren came from his eyes, which were like stars that were a beautiful mix of many colors. In the beginning, his eyes were brown, downcast as he walked into the courtroom to face General Zacklay. Later on, his eyes turned a bit darker, almost as if it were teal and brown mixed together, when Levi started beating sense out of the boy (which he both enjoyed but resented). He could sense resentment, unconsciously making his heart clench because it was like he was giving his mate and avenue to hate him. Thus, he was forced to make sure he wasn't hated. _Eren, do you hate me? _To which he was promptly answered with a no. But still, Levi was unsure.

Then, one day, when Eren was laughing outside the castle headquarters with petra, the raven-haired man noted the shift of the eye color once more. When Eren turned towards the late afternoon sun, his eyes shone a turquoise color with hints of gold along the iris. They really did look like bright stars. _Fucking brat_, Levi thought as he continued to eye fuck the brown-haired titan shifter, _is he trying to make me want him?_

The turquoise eyes of Eren shone even brighter when he left for his first mission outside the walls. Levi could sense the determination for an ideal world, rid of all those fucking titans. The ideal world where he and Eren (wait no just Eren) could go to the beach and get away from all the Military Police bastards who thought of too highly of themselves. Sadly, Eren's eyes did not remain the same throughout the entire mission. Even though he had returned alive, his eyes were scarred. They would never be the same, but they were still beautiful.

Shaking himself back, the corporal realized that he had unconsciously put on his uniform and was now ready to head on to those shitty brats (one of them happens to be his mate).

And so with no sleep, and a lot of self-will, Levi made his was down to breakfast.

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><p>Corporal Levi knew, from the moment he saw the brat in chains three years ago, that Eren Jaeger was his soul-bound mate, the one made for him in the stars, and the one he was destined to live with and be loved by forever.<p>

Some people, like Levi, were gifted with the sixth sense to tell their mate from the very first time they'd set their eyes upon them. It was a gift that had been handed down to him by his mother. She knew immediately that Levi's father was her mate, but it took a little longer for him to figure it out. This was the exact situation between Levi and the brat.

Corporal Levi researched on the idea of a "mate", and saw that a personal hell would rain over him if he didn't get together with his mate within two and a half years of meeting him or her. It read, _"You will literally not be able to function properly without getting together with your mate."_ Getting together means getting married and body and soul kind of thing, and then bonding in blood and that type of shit.

"Tch" said the raven-haired man, and went about his normal routine.

At that time, Levi _**thought**_ he was strong enough to counter the "personal hell" that he would face. Again, he thought wrong.

That was how he got insomnia a month ago. It wasn't because of seeing hundreds of soldiers get violently crushed and eaten by titans. Hell no. This was all his Eren's doing. He knew this was how he was going to start _"not being able to function"._ First, he would be sleepy and tired but not being able to. Then it would escalate to him getting poor health and getting himself killed by a goddamn titan. It was like nature's way of bitching to Levi, and convincing him to get with Eren already. But fuck, life wasn't that simple was it?

Corporal Levi, Humanity's Strongest Soldier, cannot sleep without that brat. He couldn't be falling for this 18-year-old boy, not being able to function without him. That was just stupid. Plain, fucking, stupid. He should just die along with other soldiers during their next mission outside the walls so that it'd be done. Levi could finally have eternal rest (haha), and Eren would never know that Levi was his mate in the first place.

That was Levi's almost perfect plan if he still wasn't able to sleep.

It was almost perfect, because it still contained a few flaws. He was wrong about quite a number of things: his beliefs about having a mate, about dying, about not sleeping, about being stupidly attached to a young boy, and so on and so forth.

Oh, and the thing about Eren never knowing Levi was his mate? Yep, the Corporal was wrong about that too.

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><p>This story will probably be three chapters long, unless i decide to make it longer.<p>

~R


	2. Hange's Help

Disclaimer: Shingeki no Kyojin and its characters do not belong to me. I simply write for the pleasure and freedom of doing so.

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><p>Stifling a yawn, Levi made his way down to the eating hall, trying to keep himself awake by continuously blinking. He couldn't see the end of the hallway. His eyesight was growing blurry.<p>

_Shit_, he thought, _I might be blind by the end of this year._

No worries though, that fucking Four-eyes would just prescribe him some medicine to get rid of it. So Levi dismissed another problem of his gradually-getting-shittier eyesight.

If it was only the end of the hallway was blurry to the corporal, then how was he going to spot a titan from a distance? Everything was just getting worse without his mate.

Despite having a degrading eyesight due to the lack of sleep, the raven-haired man could sense a ruckus going on in the dining area. The words "dining area" seemed too formal for what the room actually was. A more appropriate phrase would be "a brat daycare center".

Actually, _the entire castle _was a damn brat daycare center, and there just _happen _to be rooms for specific purposes.

For example, the kitchen was for feeding the brats. The classroom was for teaching the brats. The bathroom was for taking a piss and shit with the brats. The offices, quite deserted, still needed to be cleaned by the brats. The basement was where his mate stayed. His room was where he'd fuck his mate and-

_I swear this "mate thing" is crazy, _Levi thought, running a tired hand through his hair. Eren Jaeger wasn't just stealing his sleep. Nope.

He was taking his everything.

Because technically, Eren _**was**_ his everything.

When he entered, the corporal made absolutely _sure_ that all the people in the dining hall noted his presence so they could quiet it down. The eyes of the 104th trainees squad were all wide-eyed as they stared at him as he walked around to look for a vacant chair.

Levi's eyes scanned the dining hall, hoping to meet eyes with a certain brown-haired boy. But to his surprise, his ma- _the titan-shifter brat_ hadn't come out for breakfast yet.

"_**LEVIIIIII!**_"

Oh shit. That fucking four-eyes.

"LEVI! SIT HERE!"

And into a seat he was pulled.

His eyes moved through the dining hall again before angrily setting looking upon Hange. Normally, shit like this wouldn't get him so worked up. But when you have had little to no sleep for the past two months, irritation would start to mix with your blood.

Grumbling to himself, Levi cursed the world.

Honestly, if he were in a less tired and irritated state, he would have found another spot on an empty table and read a few damn documents that Erwin had thrust upon him the day before.

"Levi! How're things with your mate?" The corporal could feel Hange's four eyes (haha) on him as he prepared himself some black, bitter coffee. He needed a fuckload of coffee today.

Levi tried to ignore her question, but she was persistent in making him feel uncomfortably watched all the time. Letting out a deep sigh, he felt like he should be honest with her. Even if he wasn't going to admit it to her because of his ever growing pride, he did need help.

"It's honestly shit." Hange's eyes grew wide with awe as he moved to settle down in his seat with his newly-brewed coffee. She was at a loss of words because Levi wasn't usually this open about his problems. That is, until now. He would always put off the idea of a mate, telling him mates were useless and that he would get together with Eren over his cold, dead, titan-eaten corpse.

"Don't make your eyes look wider than they already are." Levi snorted, obviously noting her astonishment at his words.

Suddenly, just as he was about to take a sip from his coffee, a wave of fatigue washed over Levi's body. The corporal hastily and clumsily put down the cup, and a bit of coffee spilled from the edges onto the wooden table. When he was about to wipe the spillage, someone beat him to it.

"Jesus, Levi, let me do it. You're tired as hell so don't do anything." And with that she began to gently pat at the wet droplets. From her own experience with Moblit, Hange knew how difficult it was to be going through the consequences of not being with your mate. Like Levi, she had put off the idea of her mate when she felt it, but when the first symptoms of the personal hell had reigned on her, which was her becoming too emotional and moddy, she instantly succumed to the mate ideology. Unlike Levi, she was always open to the knowledge of a mate, it was just that Hange felt like she was too young and focused at the moment to pursue him. Her original plan was to wait for a while did not work, nor would waiting work for anyone else as well.

But it was harder for Levi now. Because he's put it off for two and a half years, he'd been going through the personal hell. Plus, he still continues to fight it. But Hange could see it was breaking him inside, and that he needed any advice that she could offer.

Out of the three of them (AKA Erwin, Levi, Hange), it had always been Hange who had a positive outlook on a mate. Being a scientist and a doctor, it was evident in her research on human beings that mates brought more pros than cons. If a person were to get together with his/her mate, he/she would have a faster healing process, a person to bond with (not just a fuck buddy), constant protection from each other, and generally, a happier disposition in life. Those were only a few pros mentioned out of many.

The worst cons were jealousy and death. The person who is jealous of his/her mate, depending on the personality, could cause harm to the people that were deemed trying to steal the mate away. Also, if the mate were to die, the person would most likely go crazy, and/or kill himself/herself. Mates needed to die together, stated an ancient Chinese proverb.

Sadly, since Levi found Hange 5% more annoying than Erwin, he decided to stick with Erwin's mate advice; which was to continue living normally and ignore any feeling regarding his mate. Erwin was not speaking from experience though, because the Commander never had the "mate feeling" yet.

Hange, although quite crazy and titan obsessed, was never really one to shove her opinions down other people's throats; so she never forced the corporal to take any action with his mate. However, now that it was affecting Levi, she felt like she needed to put her foot down.

"Levi, I think it's time you've done something. I've been telling you that you need to tell him already. Eren isn't a dumb boy when it comes to this. I can even help if you want. Don't listen to Erwin for once." Hange broke the silence after she cleaned the spillage. He needed help, and she was going to help him, whether he wanted it or not. It surprised her that after her previous statement about him not doing anything, he had not responded or pushed her away so he'd be the one to clean it instead.

Running a hand through his hair and grunting roughly, Hange could properly see the eyebags on his tired face.

"I told you Hange, he doesn't know shit about me being his mate yet. It might seem like I'm forcing him to be my mate if I suddenly walk up to him and go 'well golly gee, Jaeger, looks like we're mates and we have to fuck now so that I can properly sleep and slay titans. Yay. Annihilate together.' Four-eyes, I refuse to do anything without him knowing first." Levi ended his rant with a huff. It was the first time in a long time that he'd spoken so much about his feelings and thoughts in a single conversation. But then again it was his first time feeling this shitty too.

But as Levi finished his little rant, a fact had come in to Hange's view that made him 100% wrong.

You see, the table that Hange and the corporal were seated, despite being far away from the entrance of the dining area, was situated in a way that they could see everything going on in the room. However, in that situation, it was really Hange who could see everything, since Levi's back was turned away from the room.

This made the corporal totally oblivious to the younger man who entered the dining area. He came in with his closest friend and his adopted sister. The trainee who, like Levi but wasn't as bad, had growing eyebags, hunched shoulders, a tired face, and undoubtedly sleepless eyes.

Yes, Eren Jaeger entered the dining hall.

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><p>It will not be only three chapters long.<p>

~R


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